“I happened upon this blog–its creator is a corrections librarian and the blog is ‘dedicated to reviewing street fiction, also known as urban fiction, street lit, or gangsta fiction. One of the fastest growing genres, these books expose the reader to drugs, violence, sex and and the gritty realities of street life in urban America.’
One of the nice features is its fairly comprehensive list of books and authors, not to mention reviews.
Hope this helps!”

“The Tennessee Dept. of Health provides information here, for Employers and Consumers, on the Tennessee Non-Smokers Protection Act, which takes effect October, 1, 2007. The Frequently Asked Questions for Consumers and Employers provide information on penalties, the locations where smoking is banned, exemptions to the law, and more. A toll-free number, 1-800-293-8228, is included for employers who have questions about complying with the law. In addition, there are links to other resources on how to quit smoking.”

This is the link to the guidelines and application for the Parent Leadership Grants available from Partners in Public Education. Grants of up to $1000 are available to parents of students in the Memphis City Schools. Please see the guidelines for eligibility information and deadlines.

“There has been much interest in foreclosures lately and these two websites, the first from the United States Housing and Urban Development Administration and the other one from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, provide consumer information on foreclosures and links to helpful sites. The information on these websites should be able to answer most questions our customers might have, and the HUD site offers some telephone numbers consumer can call for counseling.”

eHow is an extensive guide to articles on how to do just about anything–from starting a worm compost bin to writing a love letter. (There are over 70,000 guides!) You can browse by category or search by keyword.

Users can type in an address to determine a neighborhood’s “walk score” using this site. According to the site, walkable neighborhoods result in better health, a reduction in greenhouse gas, more transportation options, increased social capital and stronger local businesses. This site might also be of interest to those who are thinking of starting a business, buying or selling a home or preparing to move to a new area.

This is a great site for anyone looking for older magazine articles on particular subjects. The site groups articles by subjects, such as “Prohibition” or “Early Cars”, and then provides a .pdf version of the original article. The articles can also be searched by keyword. A great source for students!

“People who signed up for the national Do Not Call registry when it came out 5 years ago need to reapply to keep from receiving those annoying telemarketer calls because the original period is about to expire.”

“Several book reviewers are heralding a bonanza of great books to be released this fall. Since Memphis Reads generally does not post ‘preview’ articles about soon to be published books (prefering to focus on books already in the Library’s collection), I wanted to share a post from another blog that features links to preview articles.”

Needless to say, I haven’t had a chance to check all of these out! The links are divided into the following categories: Blogging & Podcasting, Communication Tools, Photo & Video Tools, Tools for Work, Tools for Life, Web Browsing Tools, Web Development Tools, Web Search & Bookmarking, and Miscellaneous Tools.